Inside the Rope with David Clark

Since launching Inside The Rope three years ago, David has been able to chat with some of the industry leaders in financial services. In this special episode of Inside the Rope, CEO of Koda Capital Paul Heath interviews David to discuss his observations over these three years. David takes time to reflect on many of the episodes that he has conducted, including those with famed investors such as Hamish Douglass, Phil King & John Hempton. Covering their similarities and differences, Paul and David touch on the identifiable traits that appear to allow investors to be successful, along with some of the key takeaways for listeners of the podcast. David and Paul also discuss David's career to date, beginning as an analyst before becoming a director of Clark Pacific Financial Services and ultimately a Partner at Koda Capital.

Fellow Koda Partner Frank Macindoe joins David in the latest episode of Inside the Rope to discuss his extensive career in both commercial law and financial advice, as well as the success he has achieved as an avid investor in Australian equities.   Within their conversation, Frank gives an overview of the diversified portfolio of Australian equities that he manages. This portfolio (the Koda Enduring Equities Portfolio, also known as ‘KEEP’) aims to invest in strong businesses with a focus on long term value creation and capital preservation, and has significantly outperformed the index since inception 12 years ago. Frank and David also cover the importance of the term "enduring" and why it is relevant for the holdings within the portfolio.   Frank began his career in law and worked as a commercial lawyer for 20 years before eventually following his long-standing passion for investing and shifting to financial advice.

In episode #73 of the Inside the Rope podcast Koda Adviser & Partner David Clark speaks with Lindsay Partridge AM, Managing Director at Brickworks Building Products. Brickworks is one of the world's largest building supply manufacturers, and they have additionally grown to include a Land & Development division that maximises the value of surplus land created by their building products business. Lindsay outlines the firm's origin and strategy, and also discusses its large investment in Washington H. Soul Pattinson that seeks to stabilise the returns from the more volatile parts of the Brickworks business. Brickworks is a diversified company that began in 1934 as a brick manufacturer. The firm listed on the ASX in 1961 and now has a market capitalisation of $2.9bn with over 1,400 employees.

Kerry joins David to discuss impact investing, and his career in financial markets. Throughout the episode, Kerry and David discuss and define what impact investing is, the framework used by the team at Inspire Impact and the key differences to ethical (ESG) investments. Kerry is a Partner at Inspire Impact, a profit for purpose organisation that connects capital to social entrepreneurs. Inspire Impact invest in and advise purpose-driven businesses, assisting them to generate meaningful return to investors while preserving their socially and environmentally minded DNA. Kerry has advised or invested in equities since 1992 and his experience includes a number of senior roles. In 1999, he co-founded Perennial Investment Partners, which achieved strong investment performance and reached $20bn in asset under management within 8 years.

Anthony Millet from Antler joins David to discuss early-stage venture capital. Antler receives 50,000 applications a year to their programs around the world and spends over 200 hours with each team ultimately resulting in Antler investing in over 160+ companies. Over the past year since launch, the fund has delivered investors returns of 34%. Anthony and David discuss how Antler discover successful businesses, ideas and entrepreneurs. As well as how they cultivate the ideas and help the founders develop successful businesses from day one. Anthony also discusses his previous ventures such as BrickX, allowing investors to access residential property investments without the barriers which normally preclude them from doing so.

Having an IRR of 26.4% across all transactions in property, Adam Murchie joins David on this episode of Inside the Rope. Adam is a specialist in funds management and investment and has worked in the property industry for 20 years. He and David discuss the strategies deployed by the team at Forza as they aim to provide investors with the best property investments possible based on their risk and return appetite. In this episode, Adam and David discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on property as an asset class as well as the future of office dynamics and work from home arrangements. Additionally, with COVID in mind, Adam highlights some of the successes Forza have had in periods of difficulty and explains their preference for 'messy' markets where he believes they are able to find good assets that are heavily discounted relative to their risk. Since inception to June 2020, Forza Capital has achieved an IRR on completed transactions of 26.4% net of all costs.

Delivering returns of 13.38% over the past 6 months (to May 2020), Daniel from Alceon chats with David. Daniel and David discuss the Alceon High Conviction Absolute Return Fund, and dig into how Daniel thinks about running the absolute return focused strategy. The fund, which takes a fundamental, research-driven, high conviction approach in a benchmark unaware fashion, has delivered returns of 13.38% over the past 6 months (to May 2020 and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic). Having run successful positions in NextDC (NXT), Wisr (WZR), Getswift (GSW) & Bingo Industries (BIN), Daniel outlines some of the approaches taken by the team at Alceon that have allowed them to capitalise on identified opportunities. Daniel also highlights the team's agility and readiness to make tactical changes as necessary -- and gives specific examples of each from recent years.

What makes for a quality government bond portfolio, and why should investors be attracted to them? In this episode, Charlie and David discuss the benefits of high-quality government bonds in what Jamieson Coote say can help defend and protect investors portfolios by providing income, liquidity and downside protection in a period of heightened volatility. Jamieson Coote Bonds managed approximately $5.25bn in assets before the COVID-19 Crisis whilst delivering returns of 7.64% over the last 12 months to April 2020 in its domestic fund. Referencing August of last year when Swiss government bonds were yielding minus 1.1%, yet the total return of the relevant index year to date at that time was 14.5%, Charlie highlights the potentially 'eye-watering' returns that can still present themselves while bond yields are negative.

Delivering returns whilst providing impact, Cullen joins David to discuss the Kilter Rural impact investments. Since 1993 Cullen has been working in the farmland and water management sector. While holding a strong grounding in active, hands-on land management, at a strategic level Cullen holds experience in the development of priorities for investment at both catchment and state levels in Victoria. Cullen went on to establish Kilter Rural in 2004 as a vehicle for investment in sustainably managed farmland and water assets. Kilter Rural is a specialist manager, dedicated to investment in Australian real assets of farmland, water and ecosystem services. The economic fundamentals of investing in these assets are underpinned by demand and supply of food and fibre to a growing world population.

Managing a credit portfolio across several asset-backed loans (and previously corporate loans), James and the team at Aquasia's enhanced credit fund have returned 6.76% p.a. since inception (October 2011). However March saw the fund have its first negative month, as the fear of COVID-19 saw credit spreads widen and valuations shift. As James highlights, this isn't necessarily a reflection on the assets themselves or an immediate decrease in quality, but more so the price that investors are willing to pay for assets. James and David discuss the differences between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Global Financial Crisis, with James highlighting the structural causes of the GFC against the temporary economic damages caused by COVID-19 and the global government interventions. James also explains the stimulus provided by governments to bridge the gap to an eventual COVID-19 solution, the impact of hardship on property prices and the flow-on effect to other asset prices.